The cold snap hereabouts is getting worse, rather than better, with the temps frequently below zero when the wind chill is taken into account. Seems like this going to be the case all weekend, and there is snow in the forecast for later on top of all this, so I am determined to pick up some meat and crank out some chili as a way of adding a little internal fire to our efforts at staying warm. On the other hand, the doggies are in heaven, and spending a ridiculous amount of time in the backyard... Hudson the wonder dog in particular slows down a lot in the summer, and the colder it gets, the happier she is, and this recent freeze has her acting like a puppy.

xXBatmanXx wrote on Jan 25, 2013, 14:07:Wife and I did something rare yesterday - went to a movie. Was a nice 12:50pm movie - only people in the theater. We saw Gangster Squad. We both enjoyed it, then had a really nice early supper at a local restaurant.

My wife and I only do matinees, but then again the cinema we go to is a local small business type that has a full restaurant and bar that can serve food and beer before and during the movie. You can sit on couches, recliners, or at dining room type tables as well as seating that resembles typical cinema fair. We really dig the place but it is really popular on the weekends and evenings so matinees make the most sense. Glad to hear Gangster Squad was good, we have been considering going to seeing it.

Yea, it is Untouchables with a different back story. Instead of Chicago, it is LA.

xXBatmanXx wrote on Jan 25, 2013, 14:07:Wife and I did something rare yesterday - went to a movie. Was a nice 12:50pm movie - only people in the theater. We saw Gangster Squad. We both enjoyed it, then had a really nice early supper at a local restaurant.

My wife and I only do matinees, but then again the cinema we go to is a local small business type that has a full restaurant and bar that can serve food and beer before and during the movie. You can sit on couches, recliners, or at dining room type tables as well as seating that resembles typical cinema fair. We really dig the place but it is really popular on the weekends and evenings so matinees make the most sense. Glad to hear Gangster Squad was good, we have been considering going to seeing it.

Wife and I did something rare yesterday - went to a movie. Was a nice 12:50pm movie - only people in the theater. We saw Gangster Squad. We both enjoyed it, then had a really nice early supper at a local restaurant.

Mr. Tact wrote on Jan 25, 2013, 10:43:I don't think Avatar was as bad as Verno wants to make it out to be, but it certainly wasn't great cinema. I think of it as "pop entertainment" much like "pop music". Fun to listen to/watch occasionally, but nothing for the history books. The Twilight movies aren't as bad as so many make them out to be either. I was a bit surprised at how little "teen romance" was in them based on their reputation. Once again, they fit the "pop entertainment" role. But whatever, to each their own...

Hey man, you have your opinion, I have mine and to me it is a legit bad movie with good movie clothes on It just had the fortune of having a huge financial backer. The visuals were incredible but a movie is more than its visual presentation. The story was a mishmash of boringly relatable concepts, the villains were downright cartoony and I couldn't get into any of the characters to the point that I can't even name one. I didn't even find the action particularly stirring and I'm a Cameron nut.

I used to think it was just an average film with great visuals but I rewatched it recently and a second viewing only made its negatives stand out more now that I wasn't entranced by the great CGI.

Comparing it to Tyler Perry films and Twilight is really below the belt Verno, did we watch the same movie?

I was comparing it to other movies I consider bad with a large box office gross.

Mr. Tact wrote on Jan 25, 2013, 10:43:I don't think Avatar was as bad as Verno wants to make it out to be, but it certainly wasn't great cinema. I think of it as "pop entertainment" much like "pop music". Fun to listen to/watch occasionally, but nothing for the history books. The Twilight movies aren't as bad as so many make them out to be either. I was a bit surprised at how little "teen romance" was in them based on their reputation. Once again, they fit the "pop entertainment" role. But whatever, to each their own...

I'm a fan of escapist entertainment as much (more than) anyone. But Avatar was so heavy-handed it bothered even me. The corporate bad guys were so over the top absurdly evil. Might as well have stuck black hats on them all while they were at it. There were zero shades of gray in the movie, not a hint of moral ambiguity. I have no desire to ever watch it a second time.

I don't think Avatar was as bad as Verno wants to make it out to be, but it certainly wasn't great cinema. I think of it as "pop entertainment" much like "pop music". Fun to listen to/watch occasionally, but nothing for the history books. The Twilight movies aren't as bad as so many make them out to be either. I was a bit surprised at how little "teen romance" was in them based on their reputation. Once again, they fit the "pop entertainment" role. But whatever, to each their own...

Good article on Neil Degrasse Tyson's speech. A lot of it is true - government can fund basic science like nobody else. Other organizations always have a specific goal - curing a disease or making money.

Interestingly, the NIH has deliberately shifted towards translational research over the last 5 years. That means research focused on addressing human disease. For people like me, that's fine since I work on diseases of the brain and spinal cord. But if I was working on fly or worm development or something basic, I'd be in trouble.

You may not think that fly and worm development are very important, but most of the genes we know about today that are linked to human disease originally came from exactly those studies. It just takes a while for the studies to go from flies, to mice, to humans.

I thought Avatar was actually a pretty good film. Sure it was a rehash of Pocahantas basically and was unoriginal to the extreme but it was well acted, the script was solid, the dialogue believable, the action scenes well crafted which propelled the movie forward and the characters were likeable.

In short a typical James Cameron film. It sure as hell was better than Titanic and MUCH better than any action Sci-Fi flick of the last decade (other than District9)

Comparing it to Tyler Perry films and Twilight is really below the belt Verno, did we watch the same movie?

The only thing I remember about Avatar was the insulting "white man saves the natives" storyline and they actually had an alloy called "unobtainium" which I'm sure they thought was whip cracking self aware irony but in reality falls totally flat. It was just a bad movie that proved any bad movie can make a billion dollars with enough marketing and a big name attached. See also: Tyler Perry films, Twilight, etc.